REGIMENTAL ROSTER

Nothing in the story of a regiment is of greater importance than its Roster, for therein appears the record of the individual whether the same be good or bad. One man alone makes a small appearance, yet a thousand men make a regiment and every volunteer, whether commissioned or enlisted, is entitled to the best that can be said of him. If, in addition to his military service, his career in civil life may be given in outline so much the better, for in America every able bodied man is potentially a soldier. The foundation for the following Roster is found upon the muster rolls, carefully preserved in the State House, Boston, and additions have been made thereto through the information afforded by members of the Veteran Association.

The careful reader will observe in scanning the data afforded by the Roster that the ages of the soldiers almost entirely range between those of eighteen and forty-five years, these being the respective limits of legal enlistment; at the same time everyone is well aware that a large part of the army was made up of boys in their early teens; also we know full well that many a man went in long after reaching the maximum age for military service. As a fact, then, very many men lied their ages up or down; so far as the grand average, however, is concerned the "over" age compensated for or offset those who were "under." Since the muster-in rolls or enlistment papers are sources of all data concerning the age of volunteer and, it being well known that very many of them were and are incorrect, the wonder rises as to the source of statements that have gone the rounds of the public press in late years, wherein the ages represented by the soldiers are carefully tabulated. However, from whatever source obtained, as worthy of presentation here the following alleged facts are given:

Discussion has elicited an official statement that about 2,800,000 Union men enlisted; there were about 5,000,000 men called out on both sides. Of these nearly 4,500,000 were under twenty-one; there were about 332,000 who were under sixteen and there were 1,500 in the Union Army who were not fifteen years old. Less attention has been given to the men who were over age, but every regiment can give its cases of men fifty, sixty and even seventy years of age whose great excess would average up many a juvenile volunteer. When, however, the rolls afford no such statements, where is the statistician acquiring his alleged facts?

For the sake of brevity and economy of space the following abbreviations are used:

A. A. G. = Assistant Adjutant General; b. = born; bur. = buried; bvt. = brevet; batt. = battalion; Capt. = Captain; Co. = Company; Col. = Colonel; com. = commission or committee; Corp. = Corporal; cr. = credited; d. = died or dead; des. = deserted; det. Serv. = detached Service; dis. = discharged; disa. = disability; en. = enlisted; ex. of s. = expiration of service; F. & S. = Field and Staff; G. O. = General Order; H. Arty. = Heavy Artillery; Infty. = Infantry; k. = killed; lat. add. = latest address; Lt. or Lieut. = Lieutenant; M. = married; M. I. = Mustered-in; M. O. = Mustered-out; mos. = months; mus. = musician; M. V. M. = Mass. Vol. Militia; N. F. R. = no further record; N. G. = National Guard; O. W. D. = Order, War Department; Pris. = Prisoner; prom. = promoted; re-en. = re-enlisted; rep. = reported; res. = resigned; S. = single; S. H. = Soldiers' Home; S. S. = sharpshooters; S. O. = Special Order; Sergt. = Sergeant; trans. = transferred; U. S. C. T. = U. S. Colored Troops; V. R. C. = Veteran Reserve Corps; w. = widower; wd. = wounded; W. D. = War Department.

In reciting facts pertaining to each name, the same order obtains throughout the Roster; first comes the family name of the soldier, next his Christian appellation; in some instances time and place of birth are given; as a rule, age, whether married or single, occupation and place of residence follow in order; next, date of enlistment or muster-in; incidents of army life are next in place, and then the time and manner of leaving the army; finally are given incidents of civil life and latest address if the same be known. The application of abbreviations and the order are seen in the following supposed case:

Jones, John, 20, S.; shoemaker, Natick; Aug. 22, '62; wd. May 5, '64, Wilderness; dis. disa., Aug. 20, '64; Selectman, Natick, 1880, '81; 1913, Natick.

Printed in full the foregoing would be as follows:

Jones, John, at the age of twenty years, single, a shoemaker living in Natick, enlisted August 22, 1862, or was mustered in on that date; he was wounded in the battle of the Wilderness and, on account of wounds or disability therefrom, was discharged August 20, 1864; he was a Selectman in Natick in 1880 and '81 and in 1913 is still residing there.

FIELD AND STAFF
COLONELS

P. Stearns Davis, 44, M.; stationer, Cambridge; August 29, 1862; Phineas Stearns Davis was born in Brookline, June 23, 1818, his Christian names coming to him from an ancestor who bore a part in the Boston Tea Party; his earlier education, received in the Brookline public schools, was supplemented by a journey around the world; in the publishing of schoolbooks he was long associated with his brother, Robert, on Washington Street, Boston; deeply interested in Free Masonry, Colonel Davis had been Master of Putnam Lodge, Cambridge, was a member of St. Paul Chapter, Royal Arch, and was a charter member of St. Bernard's Commandery, Knights Templar of Boston; entering the Militia at a very early age, the beginning of the War found him Division Inspector on the Staff of General Samuel Andrews of the First Division; later promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, he was serving in 1862 on a Board of Examination, thereby rendering signal aid to Governor Andrew; he passed thence to the Thirty-ninth Regiment. On leaving his home, he said to his mother who had expressed wonder, if not regret, at his going, "Mother, if I should live to see the end of this war without going and doing my whole duty to my country, I should never rest," and he went away with her blessing. Perhaps no man throughout the strife entered the service with higher motives than those which prompted Colonel Davis. Possessing as high an ideal of discipline and drill as he had of morality and patriotism, he proceeded to enforce them with the result that few if any organizations in the volunteer service excelled the Thirty-ninth in true soldierly qualities. Early called to the command of a brigade, it was truly said of him that he never was assigned to any position which he did not fill. The particulars of his death, July 11, 1864, have appeared in the body of this book; his funeral, held with Masonic honors in the Unitarian Church of Cambridge, was on July 18, the entire city being in mourning, with all places of business closed; flags were at half-mast and in the audience assembled to honor his memory were the City Council of Cambridge, Governor Andrew and Staff, Adjutant General Schouler, Mayor Lincoln of Boston and a wide range of other civil and military officers; Free Masonry in which he was so prominent was represented by Putnam Lodge to which he belonged, officers of the Grand Lodge, St. Bernard's Encampment of Boston, and the National Lancers also were present. Speakers at the services were the Rev. Chandler Robbins, who had officiated at his marriage, and Chaplain E. B. French who had accompanied the remains of his commander home. With the long escort, the body of Colonel Davis was borne to Mt. Auburn Cemetery, having as bearers General Samuel C. Lawrence, Colonels C. L. Holbrook and L. B. Marsh, Postmaster Leighton and Deputy Sheriff L. L. Parker, the burial being with Masonic rites.

Charles L. Peirson, from Lieut. Colonel July 13, 1864; owing to the stress of the "Battle Summer" campaign, his severe wound at the Weldon R. R. August 18, '64, and subsequent absence from the Regiment, not to mention the red tape that ever did hedge military matters about, it was not till the 23d of November, 1864, that Colonel Peirson was mustered in to his rank: the Records of the War Department, Washington, D. C., state:

Peirson is now held and considered by this Department, under the provisions of the Act of Congress, approved February 24, 1897, to have been mustered into the service of the United States in the grade of Colonel, Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry, to take effect from July 13, 1864, and to have held that rank until the date of his discharge from service.

Upon the recommendation of Major General G. K. Warren, Peirson was commissioned Colonel of Volunteers by brevet, to date from March 13, 1865, for meritorious conduct in the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania in May, 1864, and as Brigadier General of Volunteers, by brevet, to date from March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of the Weldon Railroad in August, 1864.

After months of prostration, incident to his wound, and on the clear evidence of his inability to return to the Regiment, Colonel Peirson resigned and was mustered out of the service January 11, 1865. Subsequent to the war, General Peirson was long in the iron business, Boston; on his retirement therefrom, he found occupation for his well earned leisure in historical studies, particularly with reference to the Civil War, being a member of the Loyal Legion, which he commanded, 1895, and the Massachusetts Military Historical Society. His city residence is at 191 Commonwealth Avenue; his summer abode is at Pride's Crossing, city of Beverly.

Colonel Charles L. Pierson
B'v't Brigadier-General